Homeless man crushed to death in Dublin as he slept in industrial-sized bin

The body of a homeless man was found at the Panda waste facility in Dublin on Friday morning.
Photo by: Stephen Collins

A homeless man died in Dublin after he was crushed to death – in the industrial-sized bin he was living in.

Police officers believe the man found dead in a pile of rubbish at a West Dublin facility was alive when the bin was collected for crushing.

The Irish Times reports that officers are convinced the man, believed to be a Polish immigrant, was alive when tipped into the lorry along with the contents of the bin.

Sources told the paper that he was crushed to death in the back of the vehicle by the machinery that compresses rubbish in refuse trucks.

Staff at the waste company plant involved only became aware of the man’s body in the refuse when the collection truck was emptied at a recycling and refuse facility in west Dublin on Friday morning.

The Panda company who operate the facility refused to comment on the incident.

Officers believe the dead man was in his 30s and from Poland. They are waiting to contact his family before releasing his identity.

One police source told the Irish Times: “It looks like he fell on hard times for whatever reason and was sleeping in this bin probably because it was cold or wet.”

The paper says the post mortem on the dead man’s remains revealed he was alive when he entered the back of the truck and then sustained crush injuries from the jaws of the vehicle that compress refuse.

The truck had collected refuse from a number of commercial premises in south Dublin on Friday.

Police have ruled out foul play and believe he was most likely sleeping in the rubbish.